SUPPORTED PROGRAMS

Commonwealth Elementary School

First Church is making a big difference in our neighborhood. Commonwealth Elementary School serves about 800 students pre-K thru 5th grade, many of whom come from disadvantaged homes. In addition, the teachers and administration are expected to serve their students with dramatically less as a result of severe budget shortfalls in the LAUSD.

Partnering with the fantastic administration at Commonwealth Elementary, First Church is taking steps to focus most of our outreach efforts on meeting the educational needs of the students. Here are a few of the ways we are making a difference:

August: School Supplies Collection

First Church and Pilgrim School collect pencils, pens, paper, notebooks, art supplies and other essential materials in preparation for the start of each new academic year.

December: Holiday Gifts

FCCLA members select the name of a Commonwealth student
from cards on a Christmas Trees on our site, then buy a gift for a kid whose Christmas may otherwise be meager. Before Christmas a “Wrap Party” will prepare for the distribution.

Ongoing Tutoring
First Church members and Pilgrim School High School students will begin working side by side providing weekly tutoring sessions when school begins in August, 2013. In addition to providing one-on-one and small group assistance, this opportunity will inevitably build mutually valuable relationships with Commonwealth students.

Hope-Net was founded by 12 area congregations to address hunger among the homeless and underserved in our community. Many of the families served by Hope-Net are considered "working poor", parents and other care-givers who are working but unable to earn enough money to provide sufficient food for their family. Without First Church and other caring communities, these families would go hungry.

Hope-Net, like every food pantry, has opportunities to purchase the food their clients most need at a reduced cost via vendors and limited government programs. With this in mind First Church primarily supports Hope-Net with financial contributions. Nonetheless we also collect particular items at different times throughout the year when their shelves are most bare.

Kids-Net LA’s mission is to bolster the well-being of abused or neglected children now in foster or dependency care. Kids-Net provides a week at Cedar Lake Camp each summer for kids aged 7 to 11. In the fall, it will launch an in-town Saturday Teen Academy for aged 12 to 15. FCCLA now provides financial support and will be asked to recruit volunteers to these programs.

July: Royal Family Kids' Camp-LA

The FCCLA Home Team will offer hospitality at the church before and after camp.

August and thereafter: Saturday Teen Academy

Hospitality and mentoring.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information on FCCLA Outreach programs or to get involved, call Curtis Rhodes, Director of Programs, at 213.355.5235.

OUTREACH OPPORTUNITY CALENDAR

Saturday, March 10

04:00 pm | Union Rescue Mission

Please join the Outreach Committee as we continue our monthly visits to the Union Rescue Mission. We’ll leave the church parking lot at 4:00pm to drive to Union Rescue Mission and serve dinner. You can sign up by contacting Andrea Johnson at ajohnson@fccla.org or 213.355.5240.